Jul 11, 2006 15:18
I read this today, in Unstoppable Force by Erwin McManus. I think it speaks for itself:
"I was pastoring a small congregation in south Dallas back in 1985. Just a handful of us had begun meeting in a duplex. It took a little while, but after a year or so we moved into a house. We moved from being a half of a house church to a real house church! God blessed our work, and we saw individuals and families come to faith in Jesus Christ. Although we were still small, we felt we were living in New Testament Times.
"One day we saw an acre of land for sale on Ervay Street. Though our congregation was still less than fifty adults, many of whom were on welfare, we began to talk and pray about purchasing that property. It seemed strange that an acre of land, so close to downtown Dallas, had remained undeveloped while everything around it was built up. I never stopped to reflect on why this property hadn't been developed.
"I went to the local Association of Churches and asked the director of missions if they would consider financially undergirding our efforts. Frankly, at first there was little response. South Dallas was not a target community for new growth. It was poor; it was dangerous; it was a transitional community. It was a product of white flight. In my appeal to the director, I even mentioned that it was unlikely we would succeed, and if that were the case, the property would be available for resale. In my mind that eliminated some of the risk on their end.
"We ended up buying the land, but not with our money. A gracious church in north Dallas got involved, which allowed the association to partner with us and purchase the property. They put all the money up front. After the purchase, the land remained dormant while we continued to build a stronger base in our congregation. We looked forward to the day we could actually build a facility where we could accomodate a seven-day-a-week ministry to the community. And then we were ready.
"We began the process of obtaining the building permits, but a strange thing happened on the way to fulfilling our dream. The city of Dallas had tagged the property 'unbuildable.' It had been a landfill. It was worthless. We had bought an acre of garbage. Several core samples were taken. From what I understood, they went at least seventy-five feet deep and found nothing but trash. It finally made sense. This was the reason an acre of land had remained undeveloped. You couldn't build on it.
"Words cannot express the despair that overwhelmed me. I had led our congregation to buy an acre of garbage. I didn't really understand how denominational organizations worked, so I figured I would be kicked out of the Southern Baptist convention...In moments like these, trying to explain why God would let something like this happen is not an easy thing to do. There is no proper way to stand before the people God has called you to lead and tell them you failed...
"So for months and months and months we prayed, and the longer we prayed, the more foolish our request seemed...A pastor, his wife, and some of his youth visited us from out of town to help on a mission project. We were sitting around a little table in the house where Cornerstone [my congregation] met. It didn't take long before the question I dreaded to hear was raised again. What are you going to do with the landfill? We were infamous. Far and wide the peopel knew of our reputation...Also sitting with us was a woman named Delores Rube from Cornerstone. She had served the community all of her adult life. Before I coudl answer, before I could explain one more time, Delores said something that changed everything for me. She looked at him and said, 'It is taken care of. We've prayed and asked God to turn it into soil.'
"There was a rush inside of me. I had what I can only describe as God goose bumps. It seemed as if God was confirming her words and telling me that he wasn't finished yet. I went back to the association and asked them to take another core sample...This time, they found soil.
"I know what you're thinking--no way! Things like this don't happen in our contemporary society. You have to be in Africa for God to perform miracles through Southern Baptists...I thought about it a lot myself. How did this happen? Was it because the core sample was in a different part of the land? Or could it be that God had actually performed a miracle and changed the landfill to good land?
"What I do know is that the same realtor who sold the property to me came back and offered me three times the amount he had sold it to me for once he heard the clearance to build had actually come through. What I do know is that the prvious owners could not build on the property, but we could...What I cannot tell you is what happened beneath the ground at 2815 South Ervay Street. All I can tell you is what I know--and that is that God took my failure and performed a miracle."